Arms don't seem that complicated to me

Once I got the kids settled for the night I realized I couldn't sleep (which is never a problem for me.)  The surgery was expected to take 2-4 hours and they had instructions to call me when they were finished.  They called around 10 to tell me they were just about finished and would call me again once they were done.  I finally fell asleep and woke up around 1 in the morning.  I just knew they had called and I'd slept right through the phone.  Jeez, what kind of wife does that?!  So I called them and they said they hadn't called yet because they weren't finished yet.  Apparently they were done at one point and then decided the screws they'd used were too long so they redid the whole thing.  It ended up being a 6+ hour surgery.  I don't get why it takes so long--my last surgery was a 30-minute C-section and I produced an entire human being; Jerel took 6 hours and all he came out of it with was a non-functioning arm.

Both of our families were very concerned and anxious to help.  Jerel insisted we would be fine and told his dad not to send his mom up.  They'd told us probably 3 days in the hospital and I guess Jerel thinks more of me than I do because he thought I could handle that no problem...So I took my sister up on her offer to come down and help.  She arrived the next day and was so helpful to have here.  She watched the kids, mowed the yard, did the dishes, laundry, diapers, etc.  It also made it so much easier to visit Jerel at the hospital.  The kids would beg to see him but then get bored after about 30 seconds, so then I would end up taking them for walks and I wouldn't get to see Jerel either.  So it was nice to have someone to help.  Theresa brought her baby with her and her husband & my mom took care of her 3 other kids.

This is a picture of Eliza when Jerel got home.  She was so happy to see him!  Zay was too, but he was very nervous about Jerel's arm and didn't really know what to do.  He's had a hard time since then with worrying that when Dad leaves he's going to be gone for a long time again.  Anytime I take Jerel for a post-op checkup, Zay asks if I'm going to leave daddy at the hospital again.  He likes to review the plan for the day over and over so he can hear again that it includes daddy coming back home.

Anyway, Jerel got out of the hospital on Tuesday (the fall was on Saturday) and Theresa headed back home Wednesday evening.  By then Jerel realized I was in over my head and he was in a lot of pain, plus the arm was in a splint so he wasn't very functional, so he gave in and had his mom come up.  I think he likes to be independent, and I'm sure we could've managed it on our own, but it sure was wonderful to have help.

Trudy was so much help too even though she had a really bad cold.  She played with the kids and let them drool all over her iPad (they both love it) and helped with the housework and diapers and all of that.  We were especially glad we asked her to come because the day she arrived Jerel ended up back in the hospital for a second surgery.  He had a fever and some other symptoms that made the doctors nervous he could have infection in the bone (since it was an open fracture the bone was exposed to air (ie germs).  So I got him settled in the pre-op waiting area and then headed to the airport to get Trudy.

Jerel had a Priesthood blessing the night before the second surgery in which he was told that there would be no infection in the arm, and it turns out that is just what the surgery revealed.  They took samples to see if anything would grow, cleaned it all up again, and stitched him back together.  Nothing grew, which sort of means the second surgery was a waste, except I feel like when it comes to a good solid diaper-changing arm you don't want to take any chances, so I'm glad they did it.

We're so thankful for Theresa coming to help, for my mom & Josh helping with her kids so she could come, for Trudy giving up her Spring Break to come help, for the friends who stepped in to watch our kids, those who brought flowers, etc.  We're blessed to have such a strong support system.

This'll be a fun little family activity...

It was one of those rare times when the kids were playing by themselves and I was sitting at the computer in my jammies doing some taxes.  Usually I only get taxes done if Jerel's watching them, but he had gone to help some people in the ward move.  A while later I got a call from a friend in the ward, "Hey Mandy, how are you?"  "Good!  How about you?" "Well, I'm not really sure why I'm the one who got this job, but I'm supposed to call to tell you that Jerel fell out of one of the moving trucks and broke his arm."  [My thoughts:  1.  It's probably not really broken.  2.  Why on earth was he hanging out of a truck while it was moving? {I found out later it was not a vehicle in motion, rather a truck used to move things.  Wrong kind of "moving truck".}.  3.  I was actually getting some taxes done, but I guess we'll go see if he's okay.]  My friend gave me her husband's number since he was actually with Jerel, and I called him and he let me talk to Jerel, who basically said "I'm sure it's broken, it's just a matter of in how many places."  [He's always so dramatic...]  I said "Do you think maybe you should go see a doctor?"  Jerel, "Yes, I need you to come get me and take me to the ER."  Me "Okay, see you in a bit."  

So I ran around and got dressed, packed a diaper bag, told Isaiah to grab a book to read, and off we went. I thought it would be a fun little family activity--we'd go get daddy, take him to the doctor, watch him get a cast, and probably stop for ice cream on the way home.

It didn't really go that way at all.

I got to the house where Jerel was helping them move.  Jerel was sitting under an umbrella in the front yard with a blanket tied around him to hold his arm still.  So I sauntered on over and asked if he wanted a ride somewhere.  (By the way, the rest of everybody there just kept on moving things, which I thought was hilarious....boys are so different from girls!)  One of the guys helped him get up and into the car, and as Jerel was wincing as I buckled his seat belt, the guys were saying I probably didn't need to worry about a seatbelt in a situation like this.  But I told them a broken arm was bad enough, I didn't want a broken neck on top of it and continued to snap him in...yep, I'm a seat belt/car seat nazi.  

We got to the ER and waited for close to an hour.  We sat across the way from Jerel because anytime the kids got close to him the'd bump him and it would hurt more.  We got out the book Isaiah had brought, one he picked out himself at the library a week before, "Broken Bones."  Not kidding.  Anyway, they finally called him back and we all went back to continue our fun little adventure.  When the nurse started unwrapping the blanket from him I saw a big circle of blood on the blanket & his shirt.  So I said "Honey, I'm just going take the kids out to the waiting room for a minute."  [My thoughts:  Ahhhhhhh!  He's bleeding! That means there's a bone sticking out somewhere!  This is not going to be the fun educational experience I was aiming for!]

So I called everyone in my phone until I finally found my dear friend Stephenie.  I explained the situation and she came over immediately and got the kids for me.  She ended up keeping them for 8 hours, lots of brownie points!

I went back in and they cut off Jerel's shirt and got him ready to x-ray.  I didn't see any tree branches hanging out of him (I'm pretty sure that's what bones look like).  But there was a break in the skin that was oozing.  They x-rayed it and gave him lots of medication which did little to ease the pain.  After the doctors there looked at the x-ray they decided it was too hard for them and they sent Jerel by ambulance to a local teaching hospital.  At the time we both found this annoying because the other hospital was farther away and we just wanted it taken care of.  But in hindsight, he ended up at a much better hospital with people with a lot more experience fixing arms.

I drove to the hospital and met Jerel in the ER there.  They switched him to a different medication, which also didn't seem to help, and worked on booking the operating room.  (Jerel was not happy about needing surgery but they made it clear it wasn't optional).  I stayed with him until they took him back for surgery, I think around 7pm.  I was nervous because he's never had surgery and things can always go wrong, but I was also relieved that he'd be put under soon and have a break from the pain.  Once they took him back I headed home to get my kiddos; Jerel and I both thought the kids would do much better if we kept the kids to as normal a schedule as possible.  So I kissed him and they wheeled him off and I headed home.  To be continued.  Because this post is already WAY too long!

Double-ruffle hankie skirt

 Step 1:  Purchase 2 hankies for skirts up to size 12 months.  For sizes 18 months-2T purchase 3.  For sizes 3T-4T purchase 4.

If your hankies have a border (like those in the pictures) trim two opposite borders from each hankie.  If your hankies don’t have a border, cut a 1 1/2” strip from two opposite borders of hankies.

 Step 2:  Admire your handiwork.  This is what your hankies should look like after you’ve completed Step 1.

Step 3:  Decide how long you want your skirt to be.  For my 12-month size I did about 9-10” for the length.  If you’re not sure, measure one of the skirts hanging in your little one’s closet.

Fold one of the hankies is half and lay on table with the two printed borders lined up at the bottom.  Measure your desired length and mark with a dressmaking pencil, disappearing marker, or (if you’re disorganized like me) a washable Crayola marker from the kids’ toy box.

 Step 4:  Using a straightedge, draw a line connecting your markings from Step 3.  Then trim through both layers of the hankie along the marked line.  Note that you could easily use a rotary cutter & mat to make this faster.

 Step 5:  This is where your “eyeballing it” skills come in.  Lay your trimmed hankie from Step 4 on the table.  Then fold your other hankie in half (again with the printed trim along the bottom).  Lay this other hankie on top of the Step 4 hankie until you love the distance of the ruffles.  For mine, I wanted mainly the pink dotted border to show without much of the strawberry fabric in between.  You can have your layers as long or short as you like.

Once you have it lined up just so, pick up both hankies together and carefully turn them over.  Now the Step 4 hankie is on top.  Use the edge of the Step 4 hankie as a guide for marking your cutting line on the second hankie. 

Once you have the second hankie marked, trim along the line you’ve drawn.  Because this hankie is the shorter of the two layers, the excess you’re cutting off (to the right of the scissors) will be wider than when you trimmed the first hankie.   Again a rotary cutter could be used to simplify this step.

  Step 6:  This is what you have after completing the first 5 steps.  You should have 2 sets of 2 hankie pieces; one set will be longer than the other.  Both sets should be the same width, namely the width of the hankie minus the trim you cut off in Step 1.

You will also have the 4 strips you removed in Step 1, as well as two strips of the hankie fabric that you trimmed off (not shown in this picture).

Step 7:  Take 1 set of hankie pieces (same length) and lay them right sides together.  On my hankie you couldn’t really tell the right side from the wrong side, unless you looked at the hemmed edge.

Pin the short sides, right sides together, and sew side seam.  Once you’ve done this on both sides you’ll have a big tube.  I used a zig-zag stitch on mine so that I wouldn’t have to worry about the seam fraying inside. 

If your hankies are like mine, they aren’t printed very precisely; my pieces were slightly different lengths.  Because my hankie had such a big contrast for the border color, I made sure the borders were lined up when I sewed my tubes.  That  left the bottom edges uneven, but to me that was less noticeable than if the borders didn’t line up.

 Step 8:  When you’ve finished step 7, turn both hankie tubes right side out.  If you’re a good seamstress you’ll press the seam allowances to one side and iron it flat.  If you’re in a hurry you’ll skip that step; this is, after all, a playtime skirt tutorial!  Place the longer tube inside the shorter tube.  Line up the top edges and the side seams.

 Step 9:  Pin the two layers together along the top edge.  (I skipped that since I’m lazy, but it’s best if you pin it first).  Next sew two basting rows at the top edge.  If you want a super duper looking gather, sew THREE basting rows instead of two.  This allows for more control over the gathers and gives a nicer finished product.

  Step 10:  Pull the bobbin threads until the skirt is gathered such that the circumference is equal to your little one’s waist measurement plus 2-3”.  My daughter’s waist measured 18 ½”; you can see here that my skirt is 20” around.  After finishing it I wish I had left more room to make it easier to pull off and on, which is why I recommend making it a bit bigger than I did.

Step 11:  Using the strips you removed from the sides of the hankie in Step 1, create a strip the same length as the circumference of your skirt plus 1” for a seam allowance.  My strip measured 21”.  Fold the strip right sides together and sew up the side using a ½” seam allowance.  You now have a border tube that is the same circumference as your skirt top.

 Step 12:  Turn the tube you made in Step 11 wrong side out.  Place the skirt inside the tube.  Line them up so that the top (raw) edges are even.  I put the seam in my tube at the center point of the two side seams in the skirt; this will be the back of the skirt.  You could also line up the seam with one of the side seams.  Pin in place.

 Step 13:  Sew along the raw edge.  The width of the seam allowance isn’t vital.  The important part is that if you did 2 rows of basting for gathering, you want the stitches to be in between the 2 rows.  This keeps you from having big, uneven, folded over gathers.  If you did 3 basting rows you want the stitches to be between the bottom two rows.  Sew all the way around, then remove any basting stitches that are showing on the outside of the skirt.

 Step 14:  Optional.  My seams weren’t laying flat (because I didn’t press them) so at this point I pulled them flat, tucked under the portion that didn’t line up, and did a bit of top-stitching to secure the seam allowance.

 Step 15:  Now we’ll form the casing for the elastic.  Because we are folding down the hemmed edge from the border of the hankie we don’t even have to fold down, press, then fold down again.  You’ll want to fold your binding onto the inside of the skirt.  The stitching line will be as close to the hemmed edge as possible; pin it so that your stitching line will be just above the seamline from Step 13.  This way the seam on the outside of the skirt will be on the printed border rather than on the strawberry fabric.  That way the seam won’t show much, and it also won’t mess up your lovely gathers.  Once it’s all pinned up, stitch all the way around leaving a 2” opening for inserting elastic.

 See how the new stitching line shows through onto the border fabric?  That’s why you want matching thread; when the skirt’s done you won’t even see it!

Step 16:  Choose the elastic width you want.  I used 3/8” elastic, which works well for the baby crowd.  With toddlers you may prefer a strong, wider elastic.  If you do that you’ll need to adjust the width of your casing, perhaps by sewing two border strips together lengthwise to make your casing twice as wide.

Measure the elastic to the same length as your baby’s waist measurement.  Use a safety pin to guide through casing.  Overlap about ½ to 1” and stitch in place.  Sew up 2” gap in casing.  Admire the finished product!

Roller Skating

Our ward had a roller skating party last weekend.  I asked Zay if he'd like to go roller skating.  He had some questions first, like whether Daddy would be going, and if Daddy would help him skate (he is all about Daddy these days, he refuses to even say "I love you" to me!  If I tell him I love him, he gets all mad and yells "No.  I love DADDY!")  I assured him Daddy would help him and then he said "Maybe.  Maybe I would like rollerskating."  "Maybe" is the new word for him.  I see a commitment phobia in his future.  Anyway, we went and both kids were excited to try it, and both kids hated it so much we couldn't even get them into the rink, they just cried on the carpet.

 

Our new lot in life

We've been waiting months now for the new section of the neighborhood to open up.  There are still some homes available in the other part, but none that quite suit our wants.  We found out on Friday that they would be opening the new area at 10am Saturday.  So our schedules were rearranged, babysitters were found, and off we went on a new adventure.  We had a map of the new lots and there were I think 5 or 6 that were suitable for building our home on.  We wanted a corner one so that we'd get a bit more light in the windows (the homes are built really close together in this neighborhood).  We arrived early and were surprised to see people already in line.  I counted up the people and if each of them were there alone, which I was sure they were, and if each of them wanted the same type of lot as us, which I was sure they would, then there would be no lot left for us.  I knew I should've camped overnight in a tent!  Of course my worries amounted to nothing.  The people in line were there to buy the much larger lots (which we not-so-secretly lust after) and even now, only the 3 lots have been sold.  So not quite as urgent as we'd imagined, but I'm still glad we went early so I could get all freaked out about it.  I'm all about building up the anticipation.  Our Realtor, whom we love, met us there to walk us through the process, tell us about different options, and calm me down.

So far the news has been good.  We wanted to modify the floorplan from what they showed us (to include a 4th bedroom on the 2nd floor) and they're going to do that for us; there are a couple more modifications we've asked about that we haven't heard back on yet.  I've heard there is kind of a range with these custom home builders--some actually let you customize, and some don't.

The builder has a design center each buyer goes to to select the different options they want.  Jerel's picking the kitchen (since he does the cooking) and I'm picking everything else.  Okay, not really, we'll compromise on everything else.  And I do retain veto power even on the kitchen.  It will be interesting to see which things we each actually care about.  And how our different dream homes (mine is an old farmhouse, Jerel's is a fancy stonework covered Utah-looking house) combine into one.

This home is similar to the one we'd like.  Sadly it's one of the few the builder makes that doesn't have stonework or brickwork on it, and Jerel really loves that.  He actually thinks this home looks Asian, which I completely disagree with.  Regardless, from the appearance of it it's not the one either of us would've chosen.  But when we compared floorplans with our needs (and our budget) this was the obvious choice.  It's basically 4 levels.  Bottom level is the garage; main level is kitchen/living room/dining room/spare bedroom; upstairs is 4 bedrooms & laundry room; "bonus floor" is a big open space for the kids' playroom (which in about 20 years will be happily converted into my sewing room).

Can you even see this at all?  It's the floorplan, sort of.  The garage will be bigger, there will be an extra bedroom, and the master closet won't be quite so ridiculously enormous.

It's been fun talking with family and friends about it.  Jerel tends to be so underdramatic about things that I've had to find other outlets to share my enthusiasm with!  Not that he's not excited, but he doesn't jump up and down like I do.  It'll be good for one of us to keep a head on straight during the process!

Isaiah's vocal stylings

If only they would lower the age restrictions for American Idol...

I Love to See the Temple

Jesus Said Love Everyone (my favorite is when he hits & pushes Eliza while he sings the song, although I don't have that version videotaped yet.)

I love brother he loves me

Zay loves singing A Happy Family, and he and Eliza sure do love each other, "yes-sir-ee!"  The other morning he was sitting on the bean bag chair and Eliza walked over and climbed up on his lap.  I thought it was so cute that she wanted to sit with him.  He didn't think it was cute and immediately pushed her down.  In the end I had to bribe him with a cookie to hold her long enough for me to get a picture....just after the camera flash went off he shoved her over again and asked for his cookie...